well, fed chair ben bernanke warns that we're already paying the price for teetering on the edge of this fiscal cliff and he points to a recent drop in consumer and business confidence and says he hopes that congress will do the right thing and not kick the can down the road. >>> so that brings us to our fourth story, outfront. deal, no deal? deal, no deal? it is not a howie mandell story. it has everything to do about the fiscal cliff. and it's happening behind closed doors. and what is said in public does not seem to clear anything up. >> the longer the white house slow walks this discussion, the closer our economy gets to the fiscal cliff, and the more american jobs are placed in jeopardy. >> so what's really going on behind the scenes? earlier i spoke with republican senator jeff sessions, who's been asking the same question, and i asked him how much he, as the ranking member of the senate budget committee, actually knows about what's going on. >> very little. almost nothing, frankly. i mean, i learned from sources that the speaker was disappointed and things were not moving forward